1. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 1 Core Session 1 Setting the Scene Team Leadership for School Improvement

2. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, in any material form or transmitted to any other person or stored electronically in any form, without the prior written permission of the Department of Education and Training – Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). 2

3. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Session PRÉCIS This session highlights some of the key concepts underpinning the TLSI program. It will promote participants’ understanding that the factor which has most impact on student learning outcomes is the quality of teaching. In planning for school improvement, identifying and focusing on what teachers do will have the greatest effect on student learning outcomes. 3

4. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Session Outcomes As a result of participating in this session, you will: understand the key concepts of the TLSI program become familiar with research about the factors that impact on student outcomes understand that it is what teachers do that has the greatest effect on student outcomes reflect on the implications that the research has for your school and classroom practice 4

5. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 The purpose of this program is to: reflect on our understanding of and practice in leading schools towards school improvement facilitate the development of a results-focussed team to lead change processes enhance our understanding of the actions that may be taken to plan for improved student outcomes develop teacher, team and school leader capacity and collaboration focused on continual school improvement. 5

6. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 The program examines current research and literature in: teacher quality teachers as leaders beliefs and values about teaching and learning results-focused teamwork data-focused planning for school improvement strategic professional learning through context based activities which reflect on current practices and plan to further enhance teacher quality sustainability 6 Key Concepts

7. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Teacher Quality The greatest effect on student learning is achieved through identifying and focusing on what teachers do. …the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher…. The immediate and clear implication of this finding is that seemingly more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor. Wright, Horn and Sanders, 1997 7

8. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Teachers as Leaders Teachers who are leaders lead within and beyond the classroom. Everyone has the potential and right to work as a leader. Leading is skilled and complicated work that every member of the school community can learn. Democracy clearly defines the rights of individuals to actively participate in the decisions that affect their lives. Lambert,1998 8

9. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Beliefs and values about teaching and learning Values and beliefs about raising expectations are fundamental to improvement. Simply stated, we need values and vision driven development in which the question we are regularly asking of ourselves, as individual educators and school communities, is how well are we achieving what we value and believe; how well does our current situation match our vision of what is possible? Aitken,1996 9

10. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Results-focused teamwork Teams with a shared purpose, direction and responsibility are more likely to achieve results. Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. Andrew Carnegie in Lencioni, 2006 10

11. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 The range of data derived from assessment strategies and instruments should provide information about student progress and achievement that helps inform the ongoing teaching and learning cycle, and enable diagnosis of areas of strengths and needs at the individual student, class and school level. Commonwealth Government, Department of Education Science and Training Data-focused planning for school improvement 11

12. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Strategic professional learning Strategic professional learning is professional learning that is closely aligned to student learning needs. What matters most is quality teachers and teaching supported by strategic professional learning. Rowe, 2003 12

13. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Sustainability Sustainability is critical to the role of teachers, school leadership teams, the school and the system to ensure the preservation of what is best in public education. Sustainable improvements are not fleeting changes that disappear when their champions have left. It spreads beyond individuals in chains of influence that connect the actions of leaders to their predecessors and successors. Hargreaves and Fink, 2003 13

14. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 The most important factor 14 Professor Stephen Dinham, Research Director Teaching, Learning and Leadership at ACER, Professorial Fellow (University of Melbourne) and Visiting Professorial Fellow (University of Wollongong)

15. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 What does research tell us about how to improve our student outcomes? 15

16. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Hill & Rowe, 2003 Longitudinal study of 13,700 students in 90 schools over a period of four years This graph compares the effect of the school and the teacher on student outcomes in literacy and numeracy over a four year period. 16

17. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Findings from meta-analysis John Hattie, 2003, 2005 17 30% 50% 5-10%

18. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 The Final Word Protocol 18 Highlight three brief quotations which have particular meaning for you. Choose a timekeeper. First person begins by reading a quotation and explaining why it was the one chosen. Each other group member responds briefly First person has the “final word” to respond Next person begins by sharing a passage, repeat the process National School Reform Faculty Fischer-Mueller and Thompson-Grove

19. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 What does Hattie’s research tell us about best practice? While teachers have the power-few do damage, some maintain a status quo in growth of student achievement, and many are excellent. We need to identify, esteem, and grow those who have powerful influences on student learning. Hattie, 2003 Hattie: identified the characteristics of excellent (expert) teachers – those who have a powerful influence on learning. ascertained the differences between expert from experienced and novice teachers. identified five dimensions of expert teachers 19

20. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Hattie’s Five Dimensions 20 A.Expert teachers can identify essential representations of their subjects B.Expert teachers guide learning through classroom interactions C.Expert teachers monitor learning and provide feedback D.Expert teachers attend to affective attributes E.Expert teachers engage students in learning and develop their students’ self-regulation, involvement in mastery learning, enhanced self-efficacy and self esteem as learners

21. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 E14. Provide appropriate challenging tasks and goals for students. E15. Have positive influences on students’ achievements. E16. Enhance surface and deep learning. 21

22. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Activity Refer to the description of the attributes from Dimension E in the article. Use the Y chart in your handbook (Activity 1.3) to focus on the attributes from this dimension. In your school what would it: – look like? –sound like? –feel like? 22

23. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 A. Expert teachers can identify essential representations of their subject(s). A1. Have deeper representations about teaching and learning. A2. Adopt a problem-solving stance to their work. A3. Can anticipate, plan, and improvise as required by the situation. A4. Are better decision-makers. 23

24. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 B. Expert teachers guide learning through classroom interactions. B5. Are proficient at creating an optimal classroom climate for learning. B6. Have a complex perception of classroom situations. B7. Are more context-dependent and have high situation cognition. 24

25. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 C. Expert teachers monitor learning and provide feedback. C8. Are more adept at monitoring student problems, and assessing their level of understanding and progress, and provide much more relevant, useful feedback. C9. Are more adept at developing and testing hypotheses about learning difficulties or instructional strategies. C10. Are more automatic. 25

26. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 D. Expert teachers attend to affective attributes. D11. Have high respect for students. D12. Are passionate about teaching and learning. 26

27. © State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate, 2010 Team Leadership for School Improvement K-12 Dimensions and elements of the NSW Quality Teaching Model 27 Elements Intellectual quality Quality learning environment Significance Deep knowledgeExplicit quality criteriaBackground knowledge Deep understandingEngagementCultural knowledge Problematic knowledgeHigh expectationsKnowledge integration Higher-order thinkingSocial supportInclusivity MetalanguageStudent’s self-regulationConnectedness Substantive communicationStudent directionNarrative